THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170335
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 56 lines
After months of deliberation, the City Council today is to consider the last hangup in its proposal to use the Navy's surplus Driver Radio and Transmitting Facility: whether or not to include Youth Entertainment Studios.
Proposals for the 597-acre site have bounced between the Planning Commission and the City Council for the past several months.
The primary problem has been a proposal to include about 32 acres for the nonprofit, Virginia Beach-based YES, which educates at-risk teens through media and film programs.
Several planning commissioners and council members have said that the city shouldn't ante up land for the privately run, religion-oriented Regent University. Officials also say that YES has other available land.
During a planning commission meeting last month, several commissioners questioned why YES couldn't use land on Regent's campus in Virginia Beach or at other sites around Hampton Roads.
Regent University film professor Andrew Quicke told the commission that because the university and YES were striving to operate separate programs, a new studio on campus would not blend well with the existing buildings. .
``We don't want to plunk a studio right there, architecturally,'' Quicke said.
Also, Regent already has a studio on the campus for its students.
But perhaps the biggest issue is who will ultimately own the land at the Driver site.
Under the reuse program, the Navy conveys the property to other federal agencies , said John Peters, public affairs officer for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Norfolk, which is handling the reuse applications for Driver.
If YES is included in Suffolk's plan, the land earmarked for it would be conveyed to the Department of Education, which would then convey it to Regent.
If YES is not included in the plan, the land would go to the Department of the Interior, which would in turn convey it to the city of Suffolk for use as a park.
Another concern - expressed by residents in the nearby community of Driver - is that youths participating in YES' summer program won't get enough adult supervision.
YES President S. Harry Young told residents that the teens would get adequate supervision. About 30 percent of the youths would come from the Hampton Roads area, and the rest would come from around the country, he said.
Last month, planning commissioners voted not to include YES in the reuse plan and recommended that the council consider using the old Suffolk High School downtown as a site for the YES program.
Tonight, the council will consider two proposals for the Driver property. One includes using land for an expansion of the Nansemond National Wildlife Refuge, an environmental center for Old Dominion University and acreage for a park and the Bennetts Creek Little League. The second proposal would add to those items the use of about 32 acres for YES.
A public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. before the council votes.
KEYWORDS: SUFFOLK CITY COUNCIL by CNB